When I saw this muffin recipe on my favorite cooking blog, For the Love of Cooking, I couldn’t wait to make it. I already had all of the ingredients on hand but because I had a midterm this coming week, I decided to wait it out. But as I was diligently studying one formula after another along with all of these statistical codes I had to memorize, I realized that I had had enough and set out to the kitchen for a bit of a distraction.

It was a quick and simple muffin batter, even with the added streusel topping, that put me right in my happy place (there’s something very therapeutic about rubbing cold butter through your fingers). The entire house smelled absolutely amazing and as I took these out of the oven, I devoured a piping hot muffin in less than 30 seconds. It was a perfectly made muffin with moistness, airiness, and lightness with a delightful topping. These served as the best procrastination a student could ask for, along with the perfect midnight snack for studying.

Pumpkin Muffins with Oatmeal Streusel Topping (adapted from For the Love of Cooking):

Yields 12 muffins

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup canned pumpkin
  • 1/3 cup canola oil
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
  • 1 cup sugar

For the oatmeal streusel:

  • 1 1/4 cup oats
  • 1 tablespoon flour
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 6 tablespoon cold butter, cut into bits

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Line a 12-cup standard muffin tin with paper liners; set aside. (If you don’t want to use paper liners, you could coat a muffin pan with cooking spray instead.)

To make the streusel topping, combine the oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and cold butter in a small bowl.

Using your fingers or a pastry cutter, work the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside in the refrigerator.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, oil, eggs, pumpkin pie spice and sugar. 

Pour mixture over dry ingredients and stir using a rubber spatula just until moist.

Scoop the batter evenly into the muffin tray.

Sprinkle with reserved topping, using your fingertips to gently press the crumbs into the batter.

Place into oven and bake for 24 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

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